


The Liar

by adobe_beforeffects



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Body Horror, Character Study, Gen, One Shot, basically a study on how alice and sammy would interact should they ever meet, brief scene with some gore, there's a bit of pre-ink machine samsie in there if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 15:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12460914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adobe_beforeffects/pseuds/adobe_beforeffects
Summary: Alice Angel knows better than anyone that things change over time. Sammy Lawrence, however, will always be a liar.





	The Liar

Alice had, over time, gotten used to seeing unknown and horrifying things in Joey Drew Studios. She had been there for years; it was inevitable that eventually she would become numb to seeing new victims of the Ink Machine, new examples of twisted limbs and half-formed bodies.

And yet, somehow, this still manages to catch her off guard.

She creeps forward cautiously, holding the syringe in one hand as she surveys what she’s found. It looks like a Searcher, in a sense, and for a moment she thinks it’s one of the swollen ones due to its lack of movement. But even in its half-melted state, she can still tell it’s normal sized, thin even. _Something_ is strapped around its head, and she can see the white color of clothing poking through the ink dripping from the thing’s body. It’s flawed, completely imperfect, but perhaps some part of it would prove to be useful.

She raises the syringe up and hears it speak.

“I pray that you will hear me, my savior. I know that you and no other can help me. I ask you to lend me your strength, my Lord, and in return I will complete the task you have bestowed upon me…”

Susie nearly drops the syringe in shock, and the word slips from her mouth before she can stop it.

“Sammy?”

The figure jerks upward, and the grinning face of the Ink Demon meets hers. The effect is thoroughly uncanny, but the mask doesn’t matter - she doesn’t need to recognize the thing’s face, not after she’s heard that unforgettable voice coming from it.

“Susie?” he asks in shock, and it’s suddenly like it was years ago, and she had just _walked into the recording booth, song in hand, and he had been standing there with_ her _, recording her lines and her song…_

Alice takes a deep breath and speaks calmly, staying in control, even though she wants nothing more than to tear into her old coworker until there’s nothing left but an inky puddle. “Well, well. Looks like I have a new _plaything._ It’s rare that I see a familiar face down here.” She circles around to his side, eying the inky mess behind the mask where his face should have been. “Or perhaps… not.”

“There _is_ just one itty-bitty thing I want to know before I rip you to shreds. Why have you come all the way down here, deeper into the darkness? Certainly not sightseeing, I assume. Or perhaps you were looking for a date? Sorry, but I can safely say I’m _not interested_.” Susie’s voice slips out as she moves to his other side, seeing that he hadn’t come unarmed. The axe was only lying near him, but there was still the possibility that he could grab it now that she had lost the element of surprise. And, of course, there was always the chance that he could touch her…

“It’s quite simple, my sheep. My Lord called to me, and I did what I must to please him. He will set us free, if we only do what he asks of us.“ Sammy pays little attention to the angel, instead casting his gaze upward, and suddenly Alice realizes that he hadn’t collapsed at random as she had thought. Rather, he had carefully positioned himself directly under a Bendy statue, centered so he was framed within its shadow. “…He asked me to paint his star over his images in this area. Unfortunately, this feeble, worthless body I’m trapped in could not hold up long enough to complete the task!…” His previously resentful tone trails off mid sentence, and he suddenly seems disoriented, almost confused. “…What was I saying?”

“You honestly think there’s someone in this place that will free you? It would almost be cute, if it wasn’t so pathetic to see you groveling.” Alice had been creeping forward bit by bit as he spoke, and was now only a few steps away, almost close enough to strike. She holds the syringe at chest height, eyeing a spot near his torso that hadn’t yet completely melted. _Wait for it._ Patience was always key for these type of things. _  
_

“You… do not believe?” Sammy turns his attention back towards her, sounding genuinely surprised. “The Ink Demon knows all, he understands our plight… he will bring salvation, if one is only willing make sacrifices!”

Alice almost drops the tool in shock.

She laughs.

It’s not a happy sound, but rather a harsh, mocking, disbelieving noise that rings sharp against the walls. She steps forward so she’s standing over him, anger masking her fear of being dragged back by his corrupted ink. “This is some sort of sick joke, right? You can’t honestly think the _Ink Demon_ will help you! Bendy doesn’t care about your suffering! He attacks at random and pulls back anyone who’s foolish enough to get in his way!” Anger gradually gives way to sadness as Susie regains control, and the syringe drops to the floor.

“…No matter how perfect she was.” She runs a hand along the left side of her face, well aware of the deformities still remaining.

“I am sorry you feel that way, my sheep.” Sammy’s voice is calm as he pushes himself upright, ink seeping onto the floor. “But if you must have proof of our Lord’s kindness… I suppose I can provide some.”

The prophet grabs at the floorboards and pulls himself forward with a sharp gasp of pain. Slowly, bit by bit, the puddle starts to reduce in size, gradually thickening, melding back to the rest of his body. It solidifies into something that looks like a parody of a lower body, a vague approximation of what must have once been human legs, and suddenly he’s standing again, shaking slightly from pain and exhaustion. “Do you understand now, my sheep? I asked our savior for strength, and he… he was kind enough to grant it to me.”

“You and I both know that isn’t true, Sammy,” Susie whispers, feeling a stab of pity for him, wondering how long he had been trapped in the puddles, wondering how much of his mind had been left there for him to be in this state. A sharp pang of emotion hits her as she once again remembers how he used to be, the way he reacted when she showed up that day to record, like she wasn’t supposed to be there, like it was shocking that she’d even dare to show up after she had been replaced. She clenches her fists.“Then again, you’ve always been good at lying, haven’t you?“

“I… I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about!“ Her voices doubles up in anger and frustration as she squeezes her eyes shut, fighting back tears. “You told me that my singing was beautiful! You said I was talented, that I was too good to work in a place like this! But then you turned around and replaced me with that, that _Allison_ -!” Her voice breaks off, and she covers her mouth with her hand as black tears start to run down her face. _Damn it damn it damn it, why did he have to see her like this?_ “I’m Alice now, aren’t I?! I’ve always been Alice, not her! _I’m Alice Angel!_ ”

“Is that what this is about, Susie?” There’s something about Sammy’s voice and mannerisms that suddenly seem more grounded, more like himself. He moves closer to the weeping figure. “Listen, it wasn’t my choice to change voice actors. I’m in charge of the music, but the rest of the sound department’s out of my control. I even argued on your behalf to Joey, saying that you were a perfect Alice… but he wouldn’t listen. Something about the merchandise not selling well, I think.” He sets a hand on her shoulder, and Susie lets out another sob as she takes in a deep, shaky breath.

“You’re lying again. I’m not a perfect Alice. Not… quite… _yet._ ”

Alice Angel knocks the axe out of his hand and slams him up against the base of the statue, hard enough to send ink splattering over the stone demon’s face. Sammy lets out a cry of pain and attempts to push back against her hands, but she only sinks them deeper into his torso, pushing her way through the thickened molasses-like ink.

“If you want to worship that demon so badly, then the least you can do is pay for what he did to me!” she screeches, voice distorting in rage. Sammy lets out a choking noise as the ink making up his body thins and runs down her arms. “Do you understand?! I need your insides so I can fix what he destroyed! I have to keep myself together so I DON’T END UP LIKE YOU!” Her arm presses deeper into him, and she swears she can feel something _moving, beating_ …

She’s is suddenly far too aware of her own heartbeat.

She can feel her adrenaline pick up, and slowly she comes to her senses. She looks around the room.

The walls are black.

The ceiling is black.

And there, at the end of the hallway-

Alice abruptly pulls her hands from the prophet with a sicking squelching noise, letting him limply collapse onto the floor. The ink spreads closer, darkening the wooden floorboards like some sort of terrible disease.

_Run._

She immediately takes off in the opposite direction, not bothering to take her prey with her. There’s a Miracle Station two hallways down, but the ink seems to be spreading faster than she can move, and she curses the fact that Bendy hadn’t chosen to go after the incapacitated music director instead of her as she nearly stumbles over a loose board. She nearly throws herself into the Station, praying he won’t find her, that he can’t hear the noise of her heartbeat. She doesn’t dare breathe as the view of the world outside of the box goes black.

Slowly, little by little, Bendy comes into view. He pauses outside of the box, turning his head blindly, looking for her. All she can see from her hiding spot is that smile, _that same smile he wore as he reached towards her, putting a gloved hand over her throat, still smiling as her body fell apart and her mind shattered-_

He’s gone.

Alice doesn’t dare move for quite a while after he’s left, even after the walls have returned to their normal color and her heartbeat has slowed down to a reasonable rate. She eventually stands and pulls the door open, numbness spreading through her legs as the shock and adrenaline wears off. She presses her hand against the door frame for support. _He was so close._

Gradually she makes her way back to the statue, stopping on occasion to make sure Bendy wasn’t lurking in the darkness, waiting for her to make a wrong move. She spots her syringe on the ground and picks it up, tapping her finger against the end to make sure it hadn’t been damaged in the fall.

“Do you see, my little sheep?” Sammy’s voice echoes through the hall and she whips around, still tense from her near-death encounter. He’s standing once again, axe in hand, the wounds on his torso closing up as the thick black ink gradually fills the holes. She can’t tell his expression with the mask on, but he sounds pleased. “I called to our Lord to save me, and he did so. I would not be standing here if it wasn’t for his good grace. If only he had noticed me-!“

_Of course he didn’t,_ Alice realizes, clenching her fists. _You were lying silently on the ground while I was fleeing. It’s only natural he pursued the one making the most noise. In fact, it was probably our little dispute that called him here in the first place._ As much as she wanted to tear him open again, the risk of drawing the demon back was too great. She was sick of the prophet’s preaching, sick of looking at that grinning demon’s face, and sick of being reminded of what things were like before.

“Tell you what. I’ll make a deal, seeing as I’m such a reasonable little angel.” She takes a step towards him and he takes a step back, clearly making sure to give her a wide berth lest she lunge at him again. “I’ll let you live, as long as you take those atrocious cutouts back to your department. It’s said that he can see through them, a hundred eyes to survey everything in the studio. However, I think you can understand that I appreciate my privacy.” Her gaze lands on the pie-cut eyes of his mask, and she suddenly realizes it wasn’t the noise that alerted him to her presence.

“…Very well. I must say, our Lord will be most pleased with this arrangement.” Sammy casts his gaze back to the ink-covered statue, placing a hand on his chest. “I hope you can find it in your heart to believe, so he may free you one day. It has been a long wait, but the day will come soon. Yes… I look very much forward to that day.”

He turns and moves slowly across the floor, the remains of his legs oozing and sticking to the boards as he walks, leaving dark stains behind. He approaches the cutout against the far wall and clasps his hands in a prayer before picking it up. He turns to the door, then pauses, looking back to Alice.

“For what it’s worth, Susie… I always thought you had a truly heavenly voice.” He turns the corner and is suddenly gone, the crack on the wall dripping with fresh ink. Alice presses her fingertips against the dark band around her throat, smiling bitterly.

“Liar,” she whispers.


End file.
